Major Architect of Microsoft's Xbox
Resigns to Start a Game Company

a Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter

Updated April 23, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. said one of the chief architects of its new Xbox video-game console has resigned.

Seamus Blackley, 34 years old, is leaving the software giant by the end of the week to start a game-development company. Mr. Blackley held the titles of games otaku, which means "extreme fan" in Japanese, and technology evangelist. He was responsible for wooing game creators to make games for the Xbox,...